Field Updates

26 July 2020

At approximately 06:00 on Sunday, 26 July 2020, al-Shifa Hospital declared 3-year-old child, Aydah Mohammed Majed al- Belbeisi, dead after she was shot in the head by a stray bullet from an unmown source while in front of her house,  near Bilal Ben Rabah Mosque in al-Sabrah neighborhood, southern Gaza City.

According to the statement made by Aydah’s grandfather, Majed al- Belbeisi (59), an ambulance officer at the Ministry of Health, to PCHR’s fieldworker, at approximately 18:20 on Friday, 24 July 2020, Aydah left her grandparents’ house and headed to her house across the street (12m). As she was walking, her family were startled when she fell to the ground with blood coming out of her head. The family took her to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where she stayed in the Intensive Care Unit Department (ICU) until she was pronounced dead 2 days later. The Forensic  Medicine Department  in al-Shifa Hospital informed PCHR that the cause of death was a live bullet that settled in the child’s skull.

PCHR sources at the Palestinian police said that the police rushed to the scene and opened an investigation into the incident’s circumstances and is currently searching for the source of the bullet that killed al-Belbeisi.

PCHR expresses its deep concern over the occurrence of such incidents that highlight the irresponsible use of weapons in the Gaza Strip, endangering the lives of citizens and effectively disregarding the right to life.